This article appears in the January 2011 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe, please visit loumag.com.

Don’t know about you, but we could really use a drink right about now. So we’ve scoured the city to find our 21 favorite bars — from upscale jazz joints to dives where your beer bottle sticks to the table. We’ve also tossed in some personalities familiar with local nightlife and quotes we overheard while out on the town.

Somebody steered Bob Dylan right a couple of Julys ago (after a Slugger Field concert), when he rode up to the F.A.B.D. (3204 Frankfort Ave.) on a motorcycle, had himself a rib dinner and a couple of Budweisers with zero fanfare, and then rode off again, like the Lone Ranger. Probably every socio-economic segment of Crescent Hill and beyond has visited the Beer Depot, if not for its $2 pre-7 p.m. domestics ($2.50 after 7) or Beerhalla putt-putt course, then for its huge and dependable helpings of smoked ribs, pulled pork or beef brisket. A recent pulled-pork sandwich with pickles stood 3½ inches high. But the Depot’s regulars don’t frequent the place for the food. This is a full-bore watering hole, with not only a raft of domestic-beer choices, but plenty of import choices, too, and small-batch American brews. Flush with a motley collection of TVs with games on and scattered tables — and let’s not forget the worn-tile floor — this is a people’s bar, full of chaos and fun.